It was an absolutely beautiful night. I had been waiting for the conditions to improve at the Point so I could get back out there. The surf was as advertised - three to four feet. More of a problem coming back than launching. I was determined though, and I was rewarded. I found nice sized bass (28-34") with some blues mixed in. The moon was up and I was trolling in 15 feet of water and catching, when I notice what appeared to be a gray shadow pass slowly beneath a fish I was bringing in. Now this has happened to me 4 or 5 times before, always at Montauk and usually involving small sharks coming in to investigate, so I didn't give it much thought. Then, about 20 minutes later as I was bringing in a medium-sized bluefish, I see it again (or another one), except it's not small and it's not "investigating." It's in full-on pursuit of my bluefish, zig-zagging at 90 degree angles behind the fish... which is headed right at me! The bluefish darted under the kayak and this shark - which was about 200lbs - darted right after it, passing within about 18 inches of the kayak. It looked like a dusky or a brown shark, but I wasn't sticking around to find out. I cut my line and my losses and called it a night. I got lucky, timing my landing between two big wave sets and gliding into shore unscathed. All fish were released, as I originally had plans to stay and catch some bigger bass.

The bite was picking up, but I wanted to be sure I was still the predator and not the prey.